885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special)

assigned to

Brindisi and Rosignano, Italy 
January 1945 - May 1945

This site is a work in progress. 

It is dedicated to the men of the 2641st Spec Group (Provisional), originally designated the 15th Special Group (Provisional), and all whose sacrifices secured the quality of our lives yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Origin of the 2641st Special Group (Provisional)

General Orders (GO) Number 284 issued by Headquarters Fifteenth Army Air Force (HQ 15th AAF)  on 18 January, 1945 authorized organization of the 15th Special Group (Provisional) as of 0001 hours, 20 January 1945.  General Orders Number 1181 issued by HQ 15th AAF redesignated the 15th Special Group (Provisional) the 2641st Special Group (Provisional) on 6 March 1945.  It carried that designation forward although it appears the 15th Special Group designation persisted in some official documents beyond that date causing some confusion.  

The 15th Special Group (Provisional) was formed from the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special) by GO 284 with the addition of the 859th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) two days later on 20 January, 1945 (Special Order Number 20 - 15th AAF).  The Group was organized at Brindisi, Italy under the command of Colonel Monro MacCloskey.  Col. MacCloskey was the commanding officer (CO) of the 885th Bomb Squadron (H) (Sp) at the time of the 15th Special Group's organization.  Both the 885th and 859th squadrons were based at Brindisi at the time of the organization.

Brindisi Air Base, Italy

A directive from Major General Nathan Twining, CO 15th AAF dated 21 January, 1945 defined the Special Group's role. "15th Special Group (H) (Prov) will be employed solely for the dropping of supplies and personnel to friendly agencies in northern Italy and the Balkans.  It will operate to meet such minimum requirements as may be specified through this Headquarters by Headquarters, MAAF. 885 Squadron will operate primarily in Italy.  859 Squadron will operate primarily in the Balkans.  When weather conditions make it advisable to operate in one area or the other, both squadrons may be employed in the same area."

Thus the primary mission of the Special Group was insertion and supply of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) agents behind enemy lines in Italy and the Balkans and the supply of resistance and partisan forces operating in these areas.  The bulk of the operation was in support of the 2677th Regiment OSS (Provisional) at Bari, Italy.  Later targets would include Austria as OSS efforts concentrated on the rumored construction of a "National Redoubt" in the Austrian Alps from which a last ditch defense of Nazism was anticipated.

The squadrons of the Special Group operated specially modified B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and B-24 "Liberators" painted all black with very limited identification markings.  The 885th operated both types of aircraft while the 859th operated only Liberators.  The aircrews were trained in low-altitude night operations in which the pilot, navigator, and bombardier worked together to guide the aircraft to the drop zone (DZ).  This often necessitated traversing mountainous terrain followed by descent into deep valleys, in darkness, guided in the final approach by the eyes of the bombardier and the hands of the pilot.  Final approach to the DZ was at an altitude of a few hundred feet at near stall speeds.  During one such mission a B-17 of the 885th was struck by small arms ground fire from above!

Modified B-24 of the 2641st Special Group

The 2641st Special Group (Prov) relocated north to Rosignano, Italy on 24 March 1945.  At this time, administrative and operational responsibility for the Special Group was divided between the 15th AAF and the 12th AAF respectively.  This change preceded the Special Group's move from Brindisi, in the 15th AAF's operational area, to Rosignano and the operational area of the 12th AAF.  Memorandums issued at the time indicate a dispute between HQ 12th AAF and HQ 15th AAF over this arrangement with the 15th AAF arguing all responsibility for the Group should fall on the 12th AAF and the 12th AAF arguing administrative responsibility should stay with the 15th AAF.  The 12th AAF's argument carried with HQ MAAF (Memorandum 370.5/01 dated 13 March, 1945) admonishing the two to "work out" the details noting that what "cannot be settled by mutual agreement will be referred to this Headquarters for decisions."

Briefing Room at Rosignano, Italy (Courtesy of Walt Jones)

Several distinguished unit citations and numerous commendations were award to the two squadrons and to the 2641st Special Group (Prov) as a result of their efforts.  The 859th received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for support of the French Resistance during Operation Carpetbagger in the summer of 1944.  At the time the 859th was based at Harrington, England with the 801st/492nd Bombardment Group, 8th Army Air Force.

The 885th was also awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm for operations in support of the French Resistance and a Unit Citation for operations on the night of 12/13 August 1944.  On that date the 885th, while based at Blida, Algeria, delivered a total of 18 agents and 67,000 pounds of war material to the Resistance in the south of France.  

The 2641st Special Group (Prov) received a Unit Citation for operations in Italy's Po Valley on the night of 17/18 February 1945 in which both the 885th and 859th squadrons participated.  Again, the Special Group was designated the 15th Special Group (Prov) at the time of this operation but by the time the Unit Citation was issued it had been designated the 2641st Special Group (Prov) and, according to Col. MacCloskey, the Unit Citation carried that designation.

At the peak of its operations in February 1945, the Special Group delivered thirty-four agents and over two million pounds of weapons and supplies while operating twenty-six out of twenty-eight days and flying approximately one-half million miles.  Three hundred and fifty-four successful sorties (nearly 14 per day on average) were flown out of four hundred and eighty-six attempts.  The vast majority of unsuccessful sorties were the result of "no reception" at the target drop zones.  This feat was accomplished by forty-eight aircrews, thirty-four aircraft, and their ground support personnel.

These efforts were not without cost.  During its brief five month period of operation (January - May), the Special Group lost to flak, fighters and the hazards of special operations a total of seven aircraft with thirty-five crewman killed in action.  These losses were on top of previous losses suffered by the two component squadrons in their prior assignments.  In addition, as a result of these losses, several crewmen of the Special Group spent time in German prisoner of war camps during the last days of the war in Europe. 
 

The 885th and 859th Squadrons

At the time of the 15th Special Group (Prov) organization, its component squadrons, the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special) and the 859th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), were already relative veterans in the developing field of air force special operations.  The 885th, formerly the 122nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) and before that the 122nd Liaison Squadron, had been supplying the French resistance from Blida and Maison Blanche, Algeria since October 1943.  Initially, as the 122nd Liaison Squadron, it conducted special operations under 334 Wing (RAF).  In April 1944 it was designated the 122nd Bombardment Squadron under Col. MacCloskey.  This change formalized its special operations status and organization and increased its compliment from ten aircraft, including seven B-25 medium bombers, to fifteen heavy bombers (B-17s and B-24s) modified for special operations.  It was once more designated on 15 June, 1944, as the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special) at Blida under the 15th AAF.   In September 1944, with the support of the French Resistance no longer a pressing requirement, the unit relocated to Brindisi, Italy and continued operations in support of Italian partisans.  

Similarly, in the summer of 1944 the 859th, attached to the 801st/492nd Bombardment Group of the 8th AAF, operated out of Harrington, England as part of Operation Carpetbagger, also in support of the resistance in western Europe.  The 859th had been organized as the 788th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) which originally operated as a conventional heavy bombardment squadron.  

On 11 December 1944, the 859th was detached from the 8th AAF and sent to the 15th AAF in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) arriving at Brindisi, Italy on December 17.  This move came as the need for special operations in western Europe declined in the wake of Normandy invasion and breakout. With this, additional attention and resources were redirected toward supporting the resistance in Italy and the Balkans.

The 859th's first sortie out of Brindisi was flown on 29 December, 1944.  A total of six successful sorties were flown that day into Yugoslavia followed the next day by six sortie attempts to targets in Italy.  Weather, a mechanical failure, and a reception failure caused all but two of these to fail.  

It was at Brindisi that the 859th joined with the 885th on 20 January 1945 to form the 15th Special Group (Prov).  As noted, both squadrons had been operating at Brindisi prior to organization of the Special Group and these operations continued unabated even as the Special Group was being organized.

On May 20, 1945, thirteen days after V-E Day, the 885th and 859th parted ways at Rosignano, Italy with the 885th relocating to Pomigliano Air Field, Italy and the 859th to Giola del Colle, Italy and from there to Bari, Italy in July 1945 where it remained until October 1945.

Killed in Action with the 2641st Special Group (Provisional)

Bibliography

15th Special Group Unit History, Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA), microfilm

2641st Special Group Unit History, Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA), microfilm

Army Air Force Historical Office, Special Operations: AAF Aid to European Resistance Movements 1943-1945, AAFRH-21.

Corvo, Max, The O.S.S. in Italy, Preager, New York, 1990.

MacCloskey, Monro, Secret Air Missions, Richards Rosen Press, Inc. New York, 1966.

Parnell, Ben, CarpetbaggerS, America's Secret War in Europe, Eakin Press, 1993.

Persico, Joseph, Piercing the Reich, Viking Press, New York, 1979

Schwab, Gerald, OSS Agents in Hitler's Heartland, Preager, Westport, 1996.

The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. III - Europe: Argument to V-E Day January 1944 to May 1945, W.F. Craven and J. L. Cate, Eds., Univesity of Chicago Press, 1983.

Contacts

If you have an interest in this group or were part of the 15th Special Group (Provisional)/2641st Special Group (Provisional) please email:

John K. Mattison

Hugh S. Turner

John "Matt" Mattison is a veteran of the 885th Bomb Squadron (Heavy) (Special) and the122nd Bomb Squadron (Heavy).  He is also publisher of the 885th Squadron's newsletter.

Hugh Turner is the nephew of Leslie L. Turner, a veteran of the 859th Bomb Squadron (Heavy).  Leslie Turner was killed, along with three other crewmen, in action with the 2641st Special Group (Provisional) on 26 April 1945.  Their loss was the last combat loss of the 2641st Special Group (Provisional).

This site is a private project and is not affiliated with the United States Air Force. 

The authors are solely responsible for its content.  All referenced material is declassified.  Errors and omissions should be brought to the attention of the authors.  

All rights reserved.

Last Updated 23 December, 2005